Following Delhi blasts, Red alert in Varanasi

A Red alert was sounded and security beefed up around the vital installations and religious shrines.

indiaUpdated: Apr 14, 2006 22:15 IST

Press Trust of India None

A Red alert was sounded and security beefed up on Friday around the vital installations and religious shrines, including the sensitive Kashi Vishvanath and Sankat Mochan temples, in the wake of the explosions in Jama Masjid in New Delhi, police sources said.

As soon as the news of the explosions in Jama Masjid reached Varanasi, the senior civil and police officials, including District Magistrate Rajiv Agrawal and Senior Superintendent of Police GK Goswami reviewed security arrangements in the temples, including the Sankat Mochan Temple rocked by terror attacks on March 7, and vital government installations, the sources said.

The officials directed the authorities to carry out patrolling throughout the district with immediate effect, they said.

Additional policemen have been deployed near railway stations, bus stands, airport and public places and units of the bomb disposal squad, dog squad have been put on alert as part of the enhanced security measures in the district, sources said.

Two blasts at the Sankat Mochan Temple and cantonment railway station were carried out on March 7 in which over 20 people were killed and 50 others injured.